Trade chiefs say tough work ahead to clinch Doha deal

NEW DELHI (AFP) – – Ministers from key trading nations who agreed to resume stalled talks on a new global free-trade pact say big hurdles remain to clinching a deal that has eluded negotiators for years.

Intense negotiations lie ahead to resolve such issues as farm subsidies and market access that have long stymied agreement, said the ministers who affirmed their commitment Friday to concluding the long-running Doha Development Round.

“We have a long way to travel before we can safely say we are in the end game,” said Indian Trade Minister Anand Sharma, who organised the two-day meeting to get the Doha talks moving again after their collapse in July 2008.

“I wish them (the negotiators) good luck,” Sharma said after the close of the meeting which drew ministers from 36 countries as well as top officials of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the European Commission.

The ministers said it would be desirable to conclude the round in 2010, the target set by a summit of industrial and emerging nations in July. But some nations expressed doubts about holding negotiators to a deadline.

“Substance will drive this process, not setting deadlines and timelines,” US Trade Representative Ron Kirk told reporters.

“The toughest part of a marathon is the last two miles. There is a lot of hard work to be done.”

The Doha Round began in 2001 with the aim of creating a free-trade deal that would boost global commerce and help developing countries prosper. Deadlock between the major trading blocs has dashed repeated attempts to forge a pact.

“Is conclusion in 2010 doable? Yes. Will it be done? I don’t know,” said WTO Director General Pascal Lamy. “There remain tough nuts to crack in these negotiations.”

Developing countries such as India, which has 235 million farmers, have been hesitant to open their markets to what they fear will be a flood of cheap crops from abroad.

Developed nations such as the United States are reluctant to abandon huge, popular agricultural subsidies and want developing countries to open their markets more to industrial products.

Underscoring the differences, thousands of farmers and social activists blocked a main New Delhi thoroughfare Thursday to demand India ditch Doha as ministers opened their talks.

“The rich countries with their subsidies will destroy Indian farmers,” said Ajmer Singh Gill, a senior leader of Indian farm group Bharat Kisan Union.

But countries agreed that the world financial crisis has given new impetus for an agreement which could speed up economic recovery by boosting trade flows.

Many participants referred to a new report by a Washington think-tank, the Peterson Institute, that forecast a Doha deal could bolster global gross domestic product by up to 700 billion dollars a year.

“This crisis actually gives all members a stronger sense of urgency to conclude the Doha Round,” China’s Commerce Minister Chen Deming said, calling a trade deal the best bulwark against protectionism.

India’s bitter row with the United States over subsidy protection for poor farmers was widely blamed for the talks’ collapse in 2008. But the election of new governments in Washington and New Delhi has fuelled new hope of success.

Observers at the Delhi meeting noted better “chemistry” between the countries.

Kirk warmly praised Indian minister Sharma’s “courage and audacity” for setting up the meeting to kickstart negotiations. Sharma said greater trade with other countries would bring “prosperity and jobs.”

At the end of the day, said Brazil’s foreign minister Celso Amorim, concluding a deal would depend on “mindset.”

“If we choose sectoral gains, we’ll never finish,” he said. But if nations look at the broader picture “we can finish. It’s a question of whether political vision will prevail over special interests.”